Babycakes Covers the Classics: Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes From Donuts to Snickerdoodles (2 page)

I hope that by now you’ve met some of my absolutely magical helper-ladies at either the New York or Los Angeles bakery and witnessed them in the hectic throes of the BabyCakes assembly line. If so, chances are you’ve seen firsthand that while I can fairly be labeled a fussy, recipe-minded baker, nobody could ever accuse me of being overly garish in the kitchen. I don’t get caught up tricking things out with towering sugar art or hyper-detailed flourishes. Visually, I aim for something simple—plain, even. To me the complexities are best left in the batter.

Indeed, this book is in homage to the unflashy yet universally longed-for snacks and desserts that vegans, celiacs, and the health-concerned are usually forced to put out of their minds. For many of us, we are entering the land of those sentimental classics we usually stare at adoringly in the baker’s window but never walk away with. I’ve included everything from pancakes and Wonder Buns to Thin Mints and S’mores, from Rice Krispie Blocks and Hamentaschen to five variations of donuts. In the heat of the moment, I even pulled together a few of my favorite savory recipes, including an onion-cheddar crepe, a vegetable tart, and an outrageously handy granola concoction. There is, after all, always room for something new, and I’m always hungry.

Whereas the first book was an introductory manual for vegan, gluten-free, and agave-
sweetened desserts, this set of recipes is more a lighthearted collection to help you expand your repertoire. Many of them are refreshingly simple. But the depth of flavor and the complexities of texture will not go unnoticed. It’s going to take a little work on your end, but I promise to stick with it if you do.

Oh yes, the work. As you well know, baking often qualifies as work, and the things that make it almost inhumanely frustrating are what also make it unimaginably rewarding. It’s about getting sweet bits locked underneath your fingernails and burning batches and listening to your favorite music way too loud. It’s about nibbling as you go and trying on new aprons and then mangling them with chocolate sauce. It’s about anxiety and worry, tranquility and peace of mind. It’s about having the best time of your life and falling to the ground in a fit of tears. It’s about that telling minute when the timer rattles itself off the table and onto the floor. It’s about that moment when you discover how hard you’ve failed or how perfect you sometimes are. It’s about making yourself excited and it’s about making those you care for most and those you don’t know at all unexpectedly overcome with happiness.

Baking is also my job. I am convinced I’m one of the luckiest girls in the world, and I remind myself of this every day. My great hope is that through this book I am able to share some of my tremendous good fortune with you.

Before I dig in, let’s review the Three Commandments of cooking from this or any other recipe collection. Those of you with the first BabyCakes book are hopefully keeping your loved ones awake at night trumpeting the following chorus:

I want to note right here at the beginning that baking—at least the way we do it at BabyCakes NYC—requires premium ingredients just like they use in any of your favorite restaurants. Everything we use in the bakery today came at the great expense of unbalanced checkbooks, misfired online orders, and tireless scouring of fine-food markets. Yes, you’ll occasionally endure a costliness you might not find in more conventional baking methods, and, sure, I could
probably
use lesser substitutions in some of the recipes. But I’m not going to. You’d hate me for it in the end.

Now, all that said: When we opened the Los Angeles BabyCakes NYC outpost, we had to adapt some of the recipes owing to differences in the water supplies and oven temperatures, and even variants in the ingredients our providers were delivering (shipping tends to powder up and over-pack ingredients, I learned!). Even these in-
credibly tightly tested recipes may need slight tweaking in, say, Denver, Colorado. (Altitude is another variable, I’m told.) But then they may not! Let’s all agree we’ll stick to the rules but also be nimble in our baking boots.

One important thing that warrants highlighting: For each and every recipe included here, you will need
only
dry-measurement cups. Those are most often the neat stainless-steel kind that fit handsomely inside one another and have a long flat handle for max scoopage. So that beautiful Pyrex measuring cup you usually use for oil, water, liqueur, and other wet measurements? Please put it as far out of reach as your kitchen, house, or storage unit allows.

Here are a few other crucial notes and tidbits you’ll need to read before soldiering on:

1. MANY OF THESE RECIPES CALL FOR REFINED COCONUT OIL.
Please make sure to melt your coconut oil before measuring it to the recipe guidelines.

2. BE PRECISE WITH YOUR MEASUREMENTS.
Scoop up flour with your dry cup measure and level it off. When measuring oils, milks, or agave nectar, fill it to the tip-top and make sure to get every last drop out of the cup. The same goes for fruit purees and anything else wet enough to pour.

3. DO NOT GO SUBSTITUTING INGREDIENTS
(unless you are abiding by
these guidelines
!) or fussing with off-brand ingredients. If you do, you are asking for trouble. Try to locate and use the brands I suggest on the pages that follow and in the longer list in the previous book, which can also be found on the bakery Web site.

4. I’VE LEARNED THE HARD WAY THAT EVERY OVEN BAKES AT A DIFFERENT RATE.
Make sure you have a proper oven thermometer inside your oven for the most accurate baking temperature, and before removing anything from the oven insert a toothpick into the center and make sure it comes out clean.

5. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TOUCH YOUR CAKES
before they are halfway done or they will fall.

6. USE CULINARY MEASURING SPOONS,
not the kind you use to stir your coffee or eat ice cream.

7. IF YOU LOSE HOPE,
call some friends in for support.

You know this from the previous page, careful reader, but I’ll outline for you once again the secret of all food preparation: quality ingredients. The following are what I consider to be the best of the best in the vegan and gluten-free categories—the absolute must-have brands and ingredients for the majority of the recipes included in these pages. There are other things you will need, to be sure, but for which the name on the bottle or bag is less important; those can be found at the tail end of this book in the
Glossary
. Although you are entirely free to use other brands, these are the ones we use at BabyCakes NYC and the ones used to test the recipes in this book.

I’ve said this a million times before, but it bears repeating: From their All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour to their Garbanzo & Fava Bean Flour right down to their baking soda, I’m all about Bob’s Red Mill. The quality never wavers, and if you have ever baked with alternative ingredients, you’ll understand how invaluable consistency is. Those with nut allergies please note: All of Bob’s gluten-free flour is processed on the same equipment as almonds and hazelnuts. Bob’s does everything in its power to prevent cross-contamination, though. They power-clean the equipment between batches and then run thirty-pound test bags of flour through just to make sure the nut leftovers have been removed. Rather than discard this flour, Bob’s actually donates this perfectly edible product free of charge to good causes like animal shelters! After the charity work is done, they begin to mill the gluten-free flour. It’s entirely up to you if you are comfortable with this.

This is an unbelievably meltable, great-tasting vegan gluten-free cheese that is free of preservatives and artificial ingredients. Its base is made from tapioca and arrowroot and is completely BabyCakes NYC approved.

I have finally settled on a perfect vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate! It has a potent but neutral flavor that adds something to each and every recipe. It’s also completely soy- and nut-free.

Coconut oil is high in omega-3s, is packed with lauric acid, stores as energy—not fat—and stimulates your thyroid. It’s a bit pricey, but them’s the breaks.

We use this brand of
unscented
coconut oil in our baking because it adds a buttery taste without overpowering the flavor of the other ingredients. If you really love the flavor of coconut, they have scented, too; but in either case, buy only the refined kind, and make sure to melt the oil on the stovetop or in a microwave before measuring it into a recipe.

Not all agave nectars are created equal, and recently it has been discovered that many agave purveyors cut their agave with corn syrup! Simply, no: There is to be no screwing around when it comes to agave. Organic Nectars offers a low-glycemic nectar drawn pure from the Mexican
Agave salmiana
plant. It is the perfect substitute for honey, corn syrup, and vegan sugar in baking. I’ve tried pretty much every known agave nectar, and this is the best I’ve found.

This fair-trade, alcohol-free, gluten-free, sugar-free vanilla is so flavorful and so pure, I now use it exclusively at each BabyCakes outpost. A good-size bottle will get you through every recipe in these pages.

I will admit that the entire idea of a marshmallow replacement is completely new to me, but I was unimaginably grateful to find Suzanne’s Specialties’ Ricemellow Crème so early in my searches. But please be warned: This product contains soy protein, and as such, you will not find it featured at my bakeries, only at my dinner parties.

Last time around I encouraged you to get out there and invest in a fairly comprehensive arsenal of tools and utensils for your kitchen. I’m going to assume you already have many of these and not weigh you down with a facsimile of that list. For example, surely you have an assortment of glass bowls of different sizes that leave you plenty of room to mix up large batches by now. And the same with a whisk, food processor, rubber spatula, and toothpicks: You have this stuff. Below, however, are a few items you might have missed and that you will need for many of the recipes in this book.

Measuring Spoons
Get a good pair of stainless-steel ones. You’ll use them forever.

Measuring Cups
Once more and then I’ll let it rest: All measurements in this cookbook are made with dry measuring cups. These are usually metal and have a flat handle and do not look like they belong to your grandmother. Agreed this is what you’ll use? Great! Next tool, everybody.